Hannah Aylward (00:05)

Welcome to the Nutrient Dense Podcast. I’m your host, Hannah Aylward holistic health coach, functional gut health practitioner, and the founder of HAN. So many people are continuously failed by conventional and alternative healthcare. We’re here to do it differently. Alongside my team of functional registered dietitians, I’ve helped hundreds of women around the world overcome their chronic digestive issues when nothing else worked.

I’ve learned a thing or two about what it really takes to transform your health from the inside out. And I’m here to share it all with you. Please keep in mind that this podcast is for educational purposes only and should never be used as medical advice. Now let’s dive in. Your transformation is waiting. Hello. Hello, my dears, and welcome back to another episode of the Nutrient Dense Podcast.

Hannah (00:55)

Before we dive in, I want to let you know that today’s episode is actually a re airing of one of our most loved conversations about the gut brain connection. And it just felt like the perfect time to bring it back around so we can all have a refresh on the gut brain connection and also really dig deeper into this conversation of gut health and anxiety. And it was really kind of

influenced by a conversation that I had recently where

I was on a call with someone and she was mentioning that she had all of these digestive issues and they’ve been really impacting her quality of life. The bloating and the stomach pain and the constipation

And she was feeling like she was reacting to everything she was eating and she couldn’t tell what she was reacting to at this point. So she’d eat healthy food, she was reacting. It was like, it’s like what’s what’s triggering what here, you know?

And she’s been told that all of her labs look normal. And she’s been told that she needs to just, you know, check her anxiety. And that resonates with her because she does feel anxious and she does feel stressed. And she knows that her stress is kind of causing causing an issue.

But towards the end of the call, she was mentioning that,

you know, she’s like, I don’t know, do do I need this gut work or is it just my stress? Do I just have to work on my nervous system and my anxiety and my stress levels in order to see a big change in my digestion? And

There’s no question that these things are connected, and I really dive deep into that connection in this episode.

But I just find that what what I found that I wanted to say to her,

I can almost guarantee that the nervous system is not the only thing playing a part in this anymore because you are experiencing these chronic digestive issues on a daily basis. At that point,

It’s like stress starts to it it always physiologically impacts the body and it will lead to hormonal imbalances, it will lead to gut issues, it will lead to things like low stomach acid, which I get into in the podcast episode. So we usually have to take this kind of like bi-directional approach to really truly repairing the gut and overcoming our digestive issues. And I just I felt myself wanting to say to her,

girl.

It’s definitely not just your stress anymore if you’re in this much discomfort, right? This much daily discomfort when it comes to digestive issues. But I know that this is such a big question that so many of us ask ourselves. And so many of the women that come to work with us ask themselves. They’re like, is it just my anxiety that’s causing all of my gut issues? Is that what’s really triggering it? Maybe I need to work on that first. And

the reality is that it’s probably a bit of both involved.

But in this episode, I really go into how the brain impacts the gut, how the nervous system impacts the gut, and then also how the gut can influence the brain. So I think it’s a really juicy conversation, and I wanted to kind of bring it around

for another cycle here for the first time ever. I’ve never re-aired an episode before.

And one quick announcement before we dive into the episode.

Next week on September 2nd, I will be teaching my three-phase good gut formula masterclass live, and the class is totally free. We’ve got two class times available for you as well. So I’ll be teaching at 12 p.m. and at six p.m., both Eastern Standard Time.

And in class, I’ll be breaking down our step-by-step formula that we walk all of our clients through in order to actually repair their gut and their digestive function, transform their gut health, and help them overcome their chronic digestive issues. So

This class is live. It’s juicy. It is like full of education. And I always do a live Q&A at the end of class too. So I would love to have you join me in class if you are looking for a better strategy

when it comes to overcoming your chronic digestive issues really at that deeper root cause level. So if you want to join us in class, like I said, it’s totally free. You can save your spot at the time that I’m recording this.

podcast intro. We already have 500 people signed up, which is amazing. So would love to have you in class as well. You just need to go to go.hannahaylward.com/hgsb- masterclass to save your spot

in class.

and if you feel like you have tried all of the things, you have changed your diet, you have increased your fiber, you have increased your hydration, you have added in supplements, and you’re still struggling with these chronic digestive issues on a daily basis, feeling bloating or constipation or diarrhea or food sensitivities or reflux or low energy or skin breakouts

This class is

truly designed for you.

I’m gonna be walking you through my method, different client case studies, and would just love to have you there.

And I’ll be answering all of your questions at the end of the class. So we’ll pop the link to sign up and save your spot in the show notes below.

Or you can go to go.hannahaylward.com/hgsb- masterclass to save your spot. And I can’t wait to see you there.

Okay, now let’s dive into today’s episode.

Hannah Aylward (05:22)

Today’s topic is really what came first, my anxiety or my gut issues. So if you’ve ever thought or asked yourself that question, you know, is my anxiety causing my gut issues or are my gut issues causing my anxiety? That’s what we’re going to be digging into today in today’s episode.

your gut is influencing your anxiety and your anxiety is influencing your gut. They’re really not too separate and that’s due to the gut brain connection and the gut and the brain are intricately connected via the gut brain access in many different ways, right? So we have neurotransmitter connections, we have the vagus nerve that connects the two

and the effect of

chronic stress on the gut is really bi-directional. So in today’s episode, we’re going to be diving into the connection between your gut health and your anxiety.

how stress actually influences the gut, how your gut health can actually exacerbate mood disorders like anxiety and depression, how your nervous system directly impacts your digestion. And then also, of course, like why taking a deeper dive into your gut health can actually be such a key component when it comes to overcoming anxiety. So we often think of stress and anxiety and kind of like dysregulation as this thing in the brain, this thing in the nervous system and this thing in the brain.

But what we fail to recognize is that our gut and our gut microbiome can heavily influence the anxiety that we’re feeling.

So I’ve got my notes here because I wanted to make sure I covered everything with you guys. We’re going to be diving deep. let’s just break down like some basics of the gut brain connection and the gut brain axis. And basically your gut microbiome, your microbiome and the gut have direct communication to the brain.

via a bi-directional highway that we call the gut-brain axis. And they’re really in constant communication. So your gut is constantly communicating to your brain and your brain and your nervous system are constantly communicating to your gut. So they’re speaking to each other, but most of this communication is actually originating from your gut microbiome up to the brain. There are about 400 times the amount of messages coming from your gut microbiome to the brain and then from the brain out to the rest of the body.

Take that in. mean, our gut microbiome is playing a key role in communicating with other parts of the body all day long. And at one time, researchers really believed that conditions like dementia or depression occurred solely in the brain. However, newer research continues to identify the deep interconnectedness of the gut-brain axis and really the vagus nerve that connects the central nervous system or the CNS in the brain with the HPA axis or the hypothalic

pituitary adrenal axis. And I have a whole episode on the HPA axis. If you want to better understand like cortisol, cortisol regulation, why it matters, all that stuff. But your vagus nerve connects the CNS to the HPA axis and the enteric nervous system in the gut. And inputs from your central nervous system can actually modify the function of the gut, gut function, the gut microbiome, and inputs from the gut can also impact the function of the central nervous system. So once again, this connection is bi-directional.

And when the communication system is altered or a person’s gut microbiome is altered, it can lead to this neuroinflammation, this brain inflammation. So once again, the gut influences the brain and the brain influences the gut. So for the purposes of this podcast episode, let’s kind of start from the top down and get into how the nervous system in the brain really impacts the gut microbiome and gut function. So I just want to make that clear that the brain is part of the nervous system.

but a lot of people talk about nervous system dysregulation and how that’s connected to the gut. And then we have this gut-brain axis. So just wanted to bring some clarity there. I’ll say nervous system and brain. They’re kind of, you know, one and the same here. So first and foremost, when we experience stress, the body is going to secrete cortisol, right? Most of us are familiar with that stress hormone cortisol. Now the hormone that releases the stimulus for cortisol is corticotropin-releasing hormone, or CRH.

And this hormone actually can poke holes in the gut lining, leading to increased intestinal permeability. We also know that increased stress will actually decrease digestive output and it can impact our gut motility or the rate at which food flows through the GI tract. What does all this mean? You basically won’t digest your food as well and food’s going to sit longer in your GI tract than we want it to. And what happens when that happens? That’s when we get that bacterial overgrowth and that’s when we get a lot of bloating and a lot of distension. So

Stress can impact our gut motility. We also know that once again, we’ll get that release of that corticotropin-releasing hormone, which can lead to increased intestinal permeability or leaky gut. And we know that when stress is up, when stress is increased, we’re going to see a decrease in our digestive output, meaning stomach acid is going to go down. So the amount of stomach acid that we produce will decrease. That will then increase our pancreatic enzyme secretion and bile flow.

So stress really doesn’t stay stress under the chronic stress and or trauma that you may be experiencing. You will have those kind of physical results of these chronic stressors, right? So the immune function will also be suppressed under these conditions. We’ll get that shift in gut motility. We’ll get that decrease in stomach acid production and we’ll get that weakening of the intestinal lining leading to something like leaky gut. And what happens when that happens, right? So

Say you’re under stress for a long period of time, that’s kind of taken its toll on your digestion or taken a toll really on the health of your gut microbiome. So maybe we have some increased intestinal permeability, we’ve got low stomach acid. What happens then? We’ll get that increase in dysbiosis, bacterial dysbiosis. We can also even get that increase in fungal overgrowth as well as really a result of that gut immune function being suppressed. And all of this is then gonna cause

those quote unquote IBS like symptoms, right? So whether that is chronic bloating, food reactions and sensitivities, we can have reflux, we can have diarrhea, constipation. This also plays a massive role in things like recurring SIBO. So what can start quote unquote in the head or start as anxiety or start as stress and kind of living in that chronically stressed out state, it doesn’t stay there, right? It becomes physical. So what you may think is

just stress actually becomes something like gut dysbiosis, leaky gut, and impaired digestive function. And this is why it’s really important to recognize this connection when we are actually interested in truly taking a root cause approach. Because if we want to really get to the root of these chronic digestive issues we’re having, yeah, we may have a bunch of dysbiosis. We may have low stomach acid. I had those things and that was contributing to a lot of my bloating, a lot of my food sensitivities.

and a lot of the constipation I was dealing with as well. And also, we have to ask how do you get there? And in a lot of clients that we see, we widen the lens, we can see that we’ve had years and years of chronic stress taking place that then led to this dysbiotic state in the gut microbiome. So this is something I’ve talked about on previous podcast episodes, but probably like in little spurts, right? So maybe in the HPA axis episode or the adrenal function episode, adrenal fatigue episode.

And I’m sure in others too, because it’s so, so, so important. Once again, if you truly do want to take a root cause approach to repairing the gut, it’s like, how did we get here? Right? So if you’ve been listening to my podcast, you know, you may be familiar with ways in which, you know, stress, chronic stress and trauma do impact the gut. But what I also really want to highlight in this podcast episode is how the gut can then influence anxiety. Once again, this connection is really bi-directional. So first point that I want to make here is that

Certain gut bacteria have actually been shown to increase stress hormones like norepinephrine and epinephrine and really supporting putting that body in the fight or flight state. So certain gut bacteria can actually cause more stress in the body. So we’ll see things like E. coli, salmonella, pseudomonas, all of these bacteria have been associated with prolonged high levels of norepinephrine and epinephrine in the body. And norepinephrine and epinephrine are

two of those hormones that are associated with that fight or flight response. when these hormones are increased in the body, they can cause that acute stress response, which can then lead to anxiety, stress, and even higher blood sugar levels. So this is an actual example of our gut bacteria increasing stress in the body that can then contribute to anxiety. The other important point that I wanted to make today was the connection between lipopolysaccharide and leaky gut.

and how those can also contribute to anxiety. So essentially when LPS or lipopolysaccharide or these endotoxins escape the gut barrier, they can trigger this systemic brain inflammation, systemic inflammation and brain inflammation. So certain gut bacteria can actually produce these things called endotoxins or lipopolysaccharides or just LPS. And this is really found in the cell wall of many gut bacteria. And when the gut barrier is nice and strong, we don’t have an issue

with LPS entering the bloodstream, because it will stay in the gut. However, when our gut is permeable in the case of something like increased intestinal permeability or leaky gut, we can have these endotoxins, this LPS leaking into the bloodstream that’s then triggering that systemic inflammation that can also lead to inflammation in the brain. So I think when we’re talking about anxiety and or depression, right,

A lot of us are thinking it’s very brain-based, but we are missing the connection between the gut and the brain. And the fact that a large majority of the immune system is actually located in the gut itself. So when we have these issues in the gut, right, when we have an issue with the gut barrier, when we have an issue with the gut bacteria, that’s going to trigger that inflammation. So when we get this trigger, this triggering of the immune system,

we’ll get this increase of the production of chemical messengers, these things called cytokines, right? And these are inflammatory messengers that kick off the immune response systemically. And these cytokines can trigger this brain inflammation. And LPS specifically can actually cross the blood-brain barrier, producing that inflammatory response in the brain. And these cytokines and the lipopolysaccharide or LPS will then activate the microglial cells in the brain.

And these cells are the brain’s immune soldiers that are meant to protect the brain from weird invaders that may come about. And once activated, the microglia can actually produce more cytokines, creating more brain inflammation. So we get this over activation of the microglial cells resulting in this brain inflammation that can even potentially damage tissue and cause poor mental health. And what’s interesting is,

Some research actually shows that those with irritable bowel disease or IBD actually have higher rates of depression and anxiety. And based on what I’ve shared with you so far, that would make a lot of sense, right? We have that severe inflammation of the gut lining, of the intestinal barrier. We have that triggering of the immune system, which can then lead to that neuroinflammation. There is also some research that does show that those with higher levels of LPS or those lipopolysaccharides

in the bloodstream do have higher levels of anxiety. So when we’re looking at this, we have to ask where is it coming from? Everyone always talks about inflammation, inflammation, inflammation. It’s the root of everything. Functional medicine loves to focus on inflammation. And it’s for a good reason, but we have to ask where this inflammation is actually coming from. And in many, many cases, the inflammation is actually stemming from the gut microbiome.

So just to kind of wrap all of that up, because I know some of these words get a little big and if we haven’t heard them before, can feel a little confusing. All in all, certain gut bacteria will produce LPS or lipopolysaccharides, right? These are endotoxins. When these escape the gut barrier or your gut lining, they can trigger both systemic inflammation and they can cross that blood-brain barrier and create an inflammatory response in the brain that can then look like anxiety and even depression.

And I also want to be clear here. In no way am I saying that all anxiety and all depression and all mental health stuff is coming from the gut. That’s not what I mean. However, if we want to offer people better solutions for anxiety and depression and mental health conditions, we would be missing the mark if we didn’t consider the health of the gut microbiome. That’s really the point that I want to make in today’s episode in addition to the fact that

A lot of people feel like their anxiety is causing their gut issues, which yes, that nervous system dysregulation can contribute to those gut issues and the dysbiosis and everything that I named previously. And also these imbalances in the gut microbiome can kind of flare and trigger more anxiety. So the connection is bi-directional and we really have to address both of these things if we want to get someone truly feeling better. The other connection that I want to point out here is this neurotransmitter connection. So

Our gut microbes are actually capable of producing most of the neurotransmitters that are found in the brain. So this includes things like GABA, right? GABA is really helpful for reducing anxiety. You’ll find GABA in different like anxiety support supplements and sleep support supplements and things like that. Serotonin, you may have heard that like 90 % of your serotonin is produced in the gut, right? So serotonin is a neurotransmitter that’s responsible for that feeling of happiness and wellbeing.

Then we have dopamine, that’s a neurotransmitter responsible for something like motivation. We also have neurotransmitter modulators like brain-derived neurotropic factor or BDNF. Our gut microbes play a role in all of these neurotransmitters. So 90 % of our total serotonin and 50 % of our total dopamine are formed in the gut and not in the brain.

So all in all, if we have this imbalance of our gut microbes, whether it’s fungal overgrowth or we don’t have enough of our good gut bacteria, or we have an overproduction of the bad gut bacteria, right? These bacteria that are producing endotoxins and lipopolysaccharides, right? We can have issues producing adequate levels of these neurotransmitters that are actually really supportive for overall mental health. So you can begin to see pretty quickly how important the gut is when it comes to

us feeling happy, us feeling grounded, us feeling motivated, right? And us feeling just well, mentally well.

Hannah (20:10)

Are you finally ready to get to the bottom of your chronic digestive issues, whether it’s bloating, constipation, diarrhea, food sensitivities, stomach pain, or even skin issues? I’d love to invite you to join me in my upcoming three-phase good gut formula masterclass that I’ll be teaching on Wednesday, September 2nd. This class is totally free. In class, I’ll be breaking down our step-by-step formula that we walk all of our clients through in order to actually repair their gut and their digestive function.

transform their gut health and help them overcome their chronic digestive issues. We’re also gonna walk through some client case studies and break down important topics like leaky gut, IBS, food sensitivities, and I’ll be doing a live QA at the end. If you feel like you eat clean, you exercise, you take those gut healthy supplements like magnesium or probiotics, and you’re still struggling with nonstop chronic digestive issues, this class was quite literally designed for you.

I’d absolutely love to have you there. Bring all the questions, bring your notebook, and we’ll be diving into everything you need to know about overcoming your chronic digestive issues.

You can go to go.hannahaylward.com/hgsb-masterclass to save your spot in class.

Seats are limited because we tend to fill up. You can find the link to sign up and save your spot in class in the show notes below this episode as well. Your digestive issues are very real, and just because you’ve been told that everything, quote unquote, looks normal doesn’t mean that everything actually is normal. There’s a difference between this is common and this is actually normal.

If you feel intuitively that something is wrong.

It’s time for a different approach. It’s time to explore a different way of looking at things, and we’re digging into all of it in class. Once again, you can go to go.hannahaylward.com/hgsb-masterclass to save your spot in class and find this link in the show notes below. Can’t wait to see you there.

Hannah Aylward (22:00)

And the other big connection that I want to make with you guys on this episode is the histamine connection. Histamine’s like really having a moment right now. Everyone’s talking about it. I don’t think that’s a surprise because we’re seeing a huge uptick in things like MCAS. We’re seeing a huge increase in kind of the histamine overload picture. And I think that’s, honestly, I think it’s a big result of increased toxin exposure and people getting the virus. I think also it’s potentially like we’re also seeing some reactions to the vaccine, not in every case, but in some cases.

But what is also happening is we’ve got this big viral load, right? So a lot of people have this like post-COVID, long COVID, and it’s really jacking up these histamine levels. So I do think that histamine’s kind of all in social media and all over everything right now for good reason. I think a lot more people are struggling with it. I have seen that in practice because I’ve been helping people for years at this point, and we did not see as much of this pre-COVID.

So whether it was a reaction in response to the viral load and or the vaccine, I think in some cases it’s both. I think in some cases it’s one or the other, but we are seeing this increase in this like histamine picture with clients. So I think that this conversation about histamine or of histamine and histamine overload or intolerance or whatever is a very important one. I also think our increased stress levels and I also think our decreased progesterone levels and

Our increased exposure to toxins in the environment is also playing a role there. However, I do want to speak to this histamine piece here

too,

So we know that when we are under chronic stress, I’ve already spoken about it, right? That is going to suppress gut immune function. It’s going to reduce stomach acid production. It’s going to weaken our intestinal barrier, that gut lining, and it’s going to shift the gut microbiome in a negative way.

that can then contribute to bloating, food reactions, sensitivities, belly distension, constipation, diarrhea, which will all of that and the disruption of the gut microbiome will also contribute to skin issues, chronic acne, eczema, psoriasis, thyroid conditions, Hashimoto’s, hypothyroidism. All of these things are connected, right? We see people with all of this going on and that increase in stress will basically increase the release of histamine. So stress can actually increase histamine release

And this is one of the ways that stress impacts the gut and the immune system and even the mood. So these mast cells are immune cells that actually store histamine and they’re found throughout the body. They’re in the gut, they’re in the skin, they’re in the lungs, they’re in the brain. So these stress hormones like corticotropin-releasing hormone or CRH, that hormone I mentioned earlier, that kind of kicks off that cortisol release, this can directly activate mast cells, prompting them to release histamine and other mediators.

So basically, if anyone is dealing with histamine overload or you’re dealing with MCAS or you’re dealing with what you think is histamine intolerance, I have two episodes where I go into like extreme detail on histamine overload, getting to the root of it, how the gut plays a massive role. So I highly recommend going and listening to those. If you’re feeling like you, you fit that category, you’re going to learn so much in those episodes, but we cannot ignore the impact that stress has, right? Because

Stress can basically trigger those mast cells to release histamine. Now, why is this important when it comes to anxiety? Because when histamine is released, we can get those symptoms like a racing heart, flushing of the face, dizziness, panic attacks, right? We get that increase in vasodilation, which can then have blood, blood can flow a bit easier, and then we can have that increased heart rate from all of this. So all to say that

When we’re looking at someone presenting with anxiety or panic attacks, for example, or racing heart, right? It can feel really scary and overwhelming. I’ve been there. It’s not a fun thing to experience. But when we’re looking at someone presenting like that, we always want to look at is is histamine playing a role in any of this? Are they feeling like they’re having a panic attack because they’re getting this excess release of histamine? And if so, where is that coming from? It’s often coming from the gut microbiome.

and we get this increase of stress, right? Then we get this activation of these mast cells that then release more histamine and then it’s kind of this vicious cycle. What can also happen is when we have these deeper gut imbalances, something like dysbiosis or fungal overgrowth or whatever it might be, these things can increase our histamine load that can then increase the amount of anxiety that we’re feeling in the body. So I just like to kind of like map all of this out for you guys because

I get very annoyed and frustrated when I hear that clients have been told that all of their digestive issues are just in their head. Like, oh, you’re just stressed. You’re just anxious. Just get over it. You know, oh, you’re planning a wedding. No wonder you’re stressed. Like once that’s over, all of your gut issues will get better. Blah, blah, blah. I think it’s super like gaslighty and we’re just dismissing the fact that your gut could also be increasing the anxiety that you’re actually feeling. Right. So

When we’re kind of coming full circle here and we’re asking what came first, my anxiety or my gut issues, I can tell you it kind of doesn’t matter because either way, in order to get the gut fully better, more long-term, we have to support the nervous system. And in order to decrease anxiety, we always want to look at the gut and the gut microbiome.

Essentially, if you are someone that’s dealing with chronic gut issues, you have a lot of bloating, maybe it’s constipation or diarrhea, it’s alternating between the two. Maybe we’ve got food sensitivities and lots of reactions. Like you’re reacting to a lot of the different foods that you eat. And in addition, you are presenting with anxiety. You run more anxious. You’re having maybe panic attacks. You’re having a racing heart. I mean, we have to look at both of these things to fully get you feeling better. So

It’s less of a question of what came first and it’s more of a question of like, how are we going to help you move forward from here while addressing both the nervous system and the gut microbiome and the gut barrier and all of that good stuff.

So anxiety is not just in your head. It can be a very physical, it’s a very physical response and it can be stemming from deeper gut issues and digestive issues are not just from stress. There’s this, it’s both. The gut brain connection is showing us that it’s both, right? Gut is influencing brain, brain is influencing gut. So when we do the deeper work to rebalance the gut microbiome, to enhance the gut barrier, to increase gut bacterial diversity,

to eradicate any of these overgrowth or infections, right? Or maybe it’s an overgrowth of yeast in the gut. Maybe it’s a parasitic infection, a helicobacter pylori infection. When we dig deeper to rebalance the gut microbiome piece and in addition, repair that gut barrier to decrease that systemic inflammation and decrease those lipopolysaccharides that are crossing the blood brain barrier, increasing the anxiety that you’re feeling, we can see you start to feel better full spectrum, right? And we’ve seen clients before be able to

decrease anxiety medications, decrease depression medications. And I’m always hesitant to kind of like make big claims like that because everyone’s story and health story is very unique, right? And once again, in no way am I saying all anxiety ever is stemming from the gut, but we’ve seen such like people feel so much better mentally after doing this deeper gut repairing work. So don’t allow your

doctor or whoever you’re seeing to just tell you that it’s all in your head. That’s when I get like super upset.

because I don’t want people to just be dismissed and told to just relax. I’m like, that is absolutely unhelpful. With saying, telling a woman to calm down is never going to warrant a good response, right? So at least not for me, don’t tell me that. So it’s like, we have to look at your health holistically. And when we’re looking at someone with mental health conditions, maybe it’s anxiety, maybe it’s depression, we would be missing the mark if we didn’t also consider the health of the gut microbiome.

So anxiety and gut issues really coexist in a loop and your gut issues can make your anxiety worse and your anxiety can make your gut issues worse. So once again, I feel like I’ve spoken quite a bit about how the nervous system and stress and anxiety can influence the gut, but just so we can quickly recap how the gut can actually contribute to anxiety,

We have those certain gut bacteria that can actually increase levels of norepinephrine and epinephrine, some of these immediate to like acute stress hormones.

We also have that lipopolysaccharide component here as well,

So we can have these bacteria producing LPS or lipopolysaccharides, and then we’re getting that brain inflammation. These things are crossing the blood brain barrier and they are triggering that neuroinflammation and really prompting quite a powerful inflammatory response. And we’ve actually seen those with higher levels of LPS present with higher levels of anxiety. We also have this dysbiosis component.

And the fact that a lot of our neurotransmitters, especially these happy, feel-good neurotransmitters are actually produced in the gut itself. So any issue with our gut microbiome can then impact our neurotransmitters, which will then impact our mental health. And then to round that out, we have this histamine piece where the chronic stress will actually

trigger the mast cells to release histamine, which can then present like anxiety. can present like

flushing of the face, can present with heart palpitations, racing heart and dizziness even, reflux, right? So all of these things are interconnected. And since the connection is bi-directional, we have to support nervous system resiliency while also repairing these deeper gut issues. All in all, your anxiety is likely not causing all of your digestive issues because over time,

The anxiety and the stress and the nervous system dysregulation has actually created deeper gut imbalances that are then causing the chronic bloating, the fatigue, the food reactions, sensitivities, constipation, diarrhea, all of that stuff. So stress doesn’t stay stress. It becomes, it impacts the body physiologically. It will decrease our gut function, right? Decrease stomach acid production, wear away that gut lining. It will impact gut motility. It will decrease immune function.

it will decrease the ability for our intestinal cells to regenerate and repair. So over time, these things don’t stay stressed, they become physical, which is why anyone with anxiety or depression or dealing with really any mental health condition, we should always be taking a deeper dive into the health of their gut microbiome and their gut barrier. So if you have ever wondered once again, what came first, my anxiety or my gut issues?

It kind of doesn’t matter because we have to look at both of them. We have to look at supporting nervous system resiliency and supporting your body and feeling safe and getting you out of that sympathetic dominant state. And we have to look at your gut microbiome and repairing your gut can be such a key component in overcoming something like anxiety. So we hope that this episode was helpful for you. I know I’ve kind of touched on some of these topics before.

But I wanted to do a deep dive because this is a question that I get specifically, like, I don’t know what came first. Is it all my anxiety or is it all my gut? And once again, we got to take a look at both anyway. So I just wanted to address this question more, more directly, because I know it comes up for a lot of people. And then a lot of people are left thinking, okay, it’s all my stress. It’s all my stress. I just have to work on my stress. I just have to manage my anxiety. Then all of my gut issues will go away. And then they find that oftentimes that’s not the case. And that’s because.

over time, the anxiety and that stress response has contributed to more physical issues that also need to be addressed in order to get you feeling truly better.

I hope this episode was super helpful. Feel free to share it with someone that needs it in your life. If someone’s dealing with anxiety and they’re kind of at the end of the rope and they’re looking for other options, other things to trial, other things to look into to get feeling a lot better.

Okay, you guys cannot wait to dig into another topic on all things gut health with you soon. And I’ll see you next week. Okay, big hugs. Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Nutrient Dense Podcast.

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